THE Socceroos might have bowed out but the daily wrap up for gold from Brazil certainly hasn’t dried up.

Here’s your dose of Up for the Cup for Tuesday as the group stages reach their climax.

CHEER UP, DAVID!

If there was any consolation from Spain’s opening goal, it’s knowing that we’re in for a real treat here in Australia, with David Villa to join Melbourne City on a guest stint next A-League season.

TOPSHOTS Spain's forward David Villa flicks the ball home.Source:AFP

Spain’s record scorer was distraught when he was substituted in the second-half and had to be consoled by teammates on the bench.

“He (Villa) certainly seemed very annoyed. He said it was his last game, but I didn’t know that. I’m sure he was upset,” Vicente Del Bosque said afterwards.

Spanish players applaud as Spain's David Villa.Source:AP

“All I was thinking about is that it was time to kill off the game and we did that.”

C’mon David, it’s not that bad. You’ll be running at these guys for 10 weeks next season!

The striker said: “I would play with the national team until I was 55 if I could, but it is impossible and we have to be realists. If the coach wants to call on me, I would love it, but it is difficult and we have to be realists.”

We’ve seen players jostle for prime position in the race for Neymar’s jersey, but Iker Casillas’s poor tournament clearly hasn’t diminished his status with the punters.

Check out this sequence of photos as his boots become the hottest property in Curitiba.

Supporters fight for the boot of Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas.Source:AFP

So close!Source:AFP

To the victor goes the spoils!Source:AFP

LOOK OUT NEYMAR, IT’S SONG!

Alex Song’s inexplicable brain explosion cost Cameroon against Croatia – and he’s been lampooned wielding a knife in pursuit of Mario Mandzukic in this funny vine on social media.

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The Barcelona midfielder was in a more relaxed mood before facing Brazil.

Had he been on the field, he might not have taken the same drastic action on his Barcelona club mate, by the looks of it.

Neymar of Brazil jokes with Alex Song of Cameroon.Source:Getty Images

And Cameroon’s Allan Nyom might have been advised to do the same.

He shoved Neymar into the onlooking photographers, late, and with the ball out of play.

That only spurred the No.10 to hit back in the only way he knows how, with goals, fittingly, the 100th of the tournament so far.

Brazil's forward Neymar (C) reacts after being fouled.Source:AFP

Neymar’s performance doesn’t mask any number of Brazil’s frailties - but it certainly overcomes a lot of them!

Neymar of Brazil celebrates scoring his team's first goal.Source:Getty Images

And the King of Brazil was on the scoreboard in front of more royalty, with Prince Harry watching on. He has arrived too late to watch any England heroics.

Prince Harry (C) looks on during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group A match.Source:Getty Images

ADDICTED

Aussie Hugh Jackman is becoming a World Cup fanatic. The Socceroos could have done with some of his super human qualities this morning.

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GRUMPY OLD MEN

Why were group B’s fixtures played before group A’s this morning, for the first time this tournament?

“FIFA plays these tricks. It’s not a good thing of course. It’s not fair play,” said Dutch boss Louis van Gaal before the Chile clash. Reading between the lines, he’s implying FIFA wanted Brazil to be able to see who had finished first and second in Group B, the group that Scolari’s side meets in the second round.

“We’re going to focus on a victory against Chile, and I don’t think that will be affected by the fact that Brazil will be playing after us. I’m just assuming that they will do their sporting duty.”

A furious Luis Felipe Scolari said before the game against Cameroon: “Some people expressed a view that we were going to choose who we were going to play. Those sorts of comments are either stupid or ill-intentioned, I repeat stupid or ill-intentioned”.

One person who will not manipulate the draw is Jurgen Klinsmann, despite coming up against his country of birth in a thrilling Group of Death.

“There is no time for friendship calls,” the USA boss said. “This is all about business now. There will be no such call.”

In the end, it’s Mexico through to face the hosts. It’s happy days in the Central American country – especially so if internet sensation Vanessa Huppenkothen is delivering the news.

The Spaniards did what they had to do against the Socceroos, and although plenty of fans in green and gold would have loved to have added insult to injury, the defending champions have exited with dignity.

Respect.Source:Getty Images

In fact, del Bosque feels that calm heads need to prevail in the de-brief, and that the future of the side remains within most of the current squad.

“There are still people here who can help the team a lot and we will have to be watchful. I wouldn’t eliminate anyone due to age,” he told a news conference.

End of the road.Source:Getty Images

“In six years with Spain, we have always been first in the rankings. I think it is a generation of kids who have been great. Now it has been our turn to lose and we must lose with our heads held high.

“For the future of Spain, we’ll have to do something. We have a good base, our players are not veterans yet, good young players, so we have to be calm in the face of the future.”

Pleasure doing business with you ...Source:Getty Images

OCEANIA’S CONTROVERSIAL INVOLVEMENT

Furious Bosnia-Herzegovina fans have received 20,000 signatures to a petition demanding A-League referee, New Zealander Peter O’Leary, be axed from the World Cup after their 1-0 loss to Nigeria.

He copped it from Edin Dzeko for what they deemed a foul on Emir Saphic in the lead up to Nigeria’s opener, while Dzeko had a goal denied for a wrong off-side call.

“We are going home, we are sad because of that. But this referee should be going home, too.

“He changed the game. That’s why we lost. It was obviously a foul on our captain and before, when I scored the goal, it was never offside.”

Referee Jonas Eriksson from Sweden.Source:AP

REF’S ROLLING IN IT

On the other hand, life’s good for Sweden’s Jonas Eriksson, the referee from Brazil’s clash with Cameroon.

It’s hard to believe in the current climate of runaway wages for footballers that a World Cup ref could be on a level “paying” field with the players he controls. But Eriksson is said to be a multi millionaire.

About seven years ago Eriksson, already a FIFA accredited ref at the time, sold a 15 percent stake in Swedish media rights company IEC, enriching him considerably.

Instead of heading off to warm climes on a private yacht with butler service, Eriksson turned fulltime attention to reffing, making his big tournament debut at the 2012 Euros.

He kept control of a feisty group A match on Tuesday, producing three yellow cards – but keeping his platinum cards in his wallet.

“All the money hasn’t changed anything, the best thing I do in my life is still refereeing football,” he said a few years back.

Thomas Mueller is more renowned for his intricate, beautiful football, but at the moment, he looks like a boxer after his collision with Ghana central defender John Boye.

HARRY KEEPING QUIET

QPR boss Harry Redknapp has refused Steven Gerrard’s demand that he name and shame those players who had previously asked him to pull them out of international duty with injury while he was Tottenham boss.

“I understand Steven’s concern but I don’t want to get into naming names because it wouldn’t be fair to the players. Every Premier League manager past and present knows what I’m talking about,” he told the Daily Mail.

“Probably even Roy Hodgson. But sadly this attitude is not unusual these days. You’ve only got to look at how many players pull out of an international game on Tuesday and Wednesday then are running about for their clubs the next Saturday to see that this is a very real issue.”

MAD HAIR DAY

We’ve seen plenty of cuts for kids across the globe to imitate, but the word doing the rounds on social media is that Cristiano Ronaldo’s peculiar design was a tribute to Erik Ortiz Cruz, a young boy who recently had brain surgery paid for by the Real Madrid and Portugal star.

Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi will sue the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper over the sensational allegations emerging yesterday that he agreed for his side to play in matches that others were going to fix.

Nyantakyi told BBC World Service “the contents of the publication are not wholly true”.